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UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION 

REPRINT OF CHAPTER FROM REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION 

FOR 1909 



Chapter VII 



Educational Progress in the Argentine 
Republic and Chile 



WASHINGTON 

OOVERNMEXT PRINTING OFFICE 

1909 



_-raph. 



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7 1910 

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CHAPTER VII. 

EDUCATIONAL PKOGRESS IN THE ARGENTINE 
REPUBLIC AND CHILE. 

By L. S. Rowe, Ph. D., LL. D., 

Professor of Political Science in the University of Pennsylvania, Delegate of the United 
States to the Pan-American Scientific Congress held at Santiago, Chile, December- 
January, 1908-9. 

The great work of educational regeneration undertaken by the 
L"nited States Government in Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippine 
Islands has aroused widespread interest in all matters relating to 
the countries of Spanish civilization. This newly awakened interest 
comes at a most propitious time, for it is coincident with a clearly 
defined movement throughout South America to profit by the ex- 
perience of the Linked States in educational matters. 

Heretofore the South American countries have accepted European 
educational methods without question. In fact their intellectual 
stimulus has proceeded almost exclusively from European sources. 
In Brazil, in the Argentine Republic, and in Peru. French influence 
has been dominant: in Chile. German methods have been followed, 
especially in the organization of secondary education. 

Acquaintance with educational aspirations and educational prog- 
ress in South America is a matter of far more than passing interest 
to teachers in the United States. In the course of two prolonged 
tours through South America during the past three years not only 
were innumerable requests for material and data relating to American 
educational methods received, but also constant inquiries for compe- 
tent men and women to take charge of educational institutions. 

Although it was comparatively easy to furnish all the data re- 
quested, the problem of supplying candidates for the available posi- 
tions has presented great difficulties. These difficulties have been due 
in part to the uncertainty of tenure in some of the countries, and in 
others to the lack of preparation of American teachers for the posts 
in question. Fortunately the uncertainty of tenure is rapidly dis- 
appearing, for most contracts now read for a minimum period of 
five years, and what is more important, their provisions are carefully 
observed. , 

The inadequate preparation of American teachers for service in 
Latin-American countries and their lack of adaptability constitute 

323 



324 EDUCATION REPOKT, 1909. 

the most serious obstacles to the efficient performance of a service 
which practically all these countries are now asking of us. 

Owing to their greater adaptability the Germans have been able 
to supply competent teachers wherever and whenever the opportunity 
has presented itself. The ease with which they acquire foreign 
languages, together with their quick appreciation of the point of view 
of the county in which they settle, gives to the Germans a position 
of marked influence in educational affairs. Thus in Chile, German 
ideas have dominated the system of secondary education. The faculty 
of the pedagogical institute, from which all high-school teachers are 
graduated, is composed almost exclusively of Germans. 

It is likely that the teachers returning from the Philippine Islands 
and Porto Rico will furnish a considerable contingent of available 
candidates for positions in Latin America, but there still remains the 
serious defect of the lack of adaptability of the average American. 
At bottom, this lack of adaptability is due to a certain provincialism 
of the American mind. Much of this can be remedied by giving to the 
study of Spanish and Spanish-American history and institutions a 
more important place in our normal schools ; at least making these stud- 
ies elective for those who may be looking forward to foreign service. 

The small group of American normal-school teachers brought by 
President Sarmiento to the Argentine Republic furnishes a most 
striking instance of the possible influence of a corps of carefully 
selected teachers. Although the immediate activities of these teachers 
were confined to the city of Parana, their influence has extended 
throughout the Republic. At the Parana Normal School were trained 
the educators who have reorganized educational methods in the 
Argentine Republic, introducing modern pedagogical standards. 
To-day the names of this small group of American teachers are 
revered throughout the country. 

Fortunately, the desire of the people of South America to profit by 
the experience of the United States comes at a time of awakened and 
increasing interest in Latin-American affairs in the United States. 
Independent of the possibility of sending American teachers to assume 
charge of South American institutions, our educational experience 
can not help but be of great value to our neighbors. This service 
consists not so much in a bodily transplanting of the American edu- 
cational system as in impressing upon educators throughout Latin 
America the necessity of greater elasticity of curricula and of closer 
adaptation of educational methods to local needs and local con- 
ditions. The increasing complexity of our primary and secondary 
curricula, together with the tendency to introduce with each year new 
subjects of instruction, has resulted in many cases in an overloading 
of the course of study. In spite of the danger, however, our system 



EDUCATION IN ARGENTINA AND CHILE. 325 

has maintained an elasticity of form and an adaptability in applica- 
tion to local needs quite unknown to most of the South American 
countries. 

The most serious defect of educational organization in the Argen- 
tine Kepublic, Brazil, Chile, and Peru is this tendency to impose the 
same course of study on every boy and girl, quite irrespective of their 
tastes or subsequent vocation. From the primary school to the close 
of the high-school course not the slightest freedom of choice is per- 
mitted. It is true that in all of these countries there exist industrial 
and commercial schools, but up to the present time these schools 
have occupied a subordinate and inferior position, the sons of the 
wealthier families avoiding them because of a well-defined social 
prejudice against this type of education. 

The result is that in Brazil, the Argentine Republic, and Peru, and 
to a certain extent in Chile,® the great mass of boys and girls who 
advance beyond the primary grades are required to follow a course of 
study patterned in large measure after French models and intended 
to prepare for the liberal professions, especially law and medicine. 
Even from this point of view the course of study is open to much 
criticism, largely because of its rigidity and complexity, but its most 
serious defect is that it encourages a great number of young men, 
best fitted for commercial or industrial life, to enter callings for 
which they have no real capacity. It is true that this tendency is 
traceable to an inherited Spanish prejudice against trade, but this is 
all the more reason why the educational system should be so adjusted 
as to overcome, or at least counteract, such prejudices. The ambition 
of almost every family in these countries is to have their sons enter 
the legal or the medical profession, which has resulted in a degree of 
overcrowding unknown in any other portion of the civilized world. 

This is, however, by no means the most serious consequence. The 
manifest tendency of so large a proportion of the intelligent young 
men to enter the legal and medical professions, together with the 
existing social prejudice against trade, has robbed these countries of 
their best talent in those fields in which they stand in greatest need 
of carefully trained men and women. It is largely due to this fact 
that important native business houses are the exception rather than 
the rule. The large fortunes of native-born Argentinians, for 
instance, have been built up on the increasing value of real estate, 
due to the natural growth of the country rather than to commercial 
or industrial initiative or enterprise. Industrial enterprises requir- 
ing constant application and assiduous attention are in the hands of 
foreigners. 

a Owing to the marked German educational influence, Chile has escaped some of the worst 
consequences of this system. 



326 EDUCATION REPORT, 1909. 

It is here that the Latin- American countries can secure their most 
valuable lesson from the experience of the United States. The re- 
markable development of our industrial and commercial schools 
represents the most conspicuous educational contribution of the 
United States. The freedom of choice by which a student upon 
entering the high school may, without the slightest loss of standing, 
elect any one of three or four possible courses has been of incalculable 
service to the country. It has given to trade and industry some of 
the best talent and capacity instead of making these callings the 
residual claimants for those who for one reason or another may be 
unfitted to follow the so-called " liberal professions." All the Latin- 
American countries require a change of attitude toward commerce 
and industry as compared with law and medicine. The system of 
secondary instruction can be so adjusted as to contribute toward this 
end. 

Another lesson of American experience of much importance to the 
Latin- American countries is the necessity of training a corps of pro- 
fessional teachers for the " liceos," or high schools. Chile is the only 
country that has made an important move in this direction. In the 
Argentine Republic the teaching corps of the high schools, or 
" colegios," as they are called, is made up of practicing lawyers and 
physicians. The result is that there is an almost total absence of 
that personal contact between pupil and teacher which is the distin- 
guishing characteristic of our educational system. A move in the 
right direction has been made in the high school attached to the 
national university of La Plata. In fact, under the direction of the 
president and vice-president of this institution, Doctor Joaquin Gon- 
zalez and Doctor Agustin Alvarez, a new spirit is gradually being 
introduced into the Argentine educational system. In order to make 
the high schools fulfill their real purpose it will be necessary first to 
raise salaries to a level which will attract competent men, who will 
make a career of these positions rather than, as at present, a mere 
incident to other callings. 

A third lesson of American experience of incalculable value to the 
Latin- American Republics is the necessity of giving greater attention 
to the education of women. In spite of superficial indications to the 
contrary, there is no other portion of the world where the influence of 
women is as far-reaching. In many respects it is greater than in the 
United States, owing to the fact that in the Latin-American countries 
the training of children is left almost exclusively to the mother. That 
fellowship and companionship between father and sons so character- 
istic of family life in the United States is almost totally lacking. 
The mother's directing influence is almost if not quite exclusive. It 
is only when the sons have reached an age at which it becomes neces- 



EDUCATION IN ARGENTINA AND CHILE. 327 

sary to choose a profession or calling that the father's authority 
becomes prominent. 

The surface appearances of Latin-American society are most mis- 
leading in this respect. As soon as one becomes acquainted with 
family organization and customs, the tremendous influence of the wife 
and mother immediately becomes apparent. The tendency to keep the 
young woman as far removed as possible from contact with real life, 
the atmosphere of artificiality with which she is surrounded, together 
with the inadequate and in many respects superficial education which 
she receives, react unfavorably on the character and stability of 
Latin- American society. The young woman enters upon the duties 
of wifehood and motherhood with either a false or totally inadequate 
idea of social and economic conditions. An exaggerated spirit of in- 
dulgence toward children, an acceptance almost without question of the 
idea that the sons must sow their wild oats, and the consequent lack of 
discipline which this involves, tend to develop a generation but poorly 
equipped with the qualities of self-control, determination, and con- 
tinuous application so necessary to the development of a vigorous race. 

Furthermore, the idea of preparing young women of the middle 
class to earn their livelihood is but beginning to find acceptance in the 
countries of Latin-America. A start in this direction has been made 
in several countries, but even where, as in the Argentine Republic, a 
special commercial school has been opened for women, both the course 
of study and the type of training are distinctly inferior to those given 
in schools for male pupils. 

It is true that there still exists throughout Latin- America a strong 
social prejudice against the entry of young women into commercial 
and industrial pursuits. This fact makes it all the more important 
that the best facilities be offered to the comparatively small group 
prepared to weather this social tradition. Xo more important influ- 
ence can be set at work to overcome a prejudice which is a real 
obstacle to national progress. 

It is not possible, within the limits of this report, to present a 
detailed account of the educational sj^stems of the Latin-American 
Republics. We must, therefore, content ourselves with a brief de- 
scription of the leading traits of those countries which we have had 
the opportunity to study with some detail — viz, the Argentine Repub- 
lic and Chile. 



THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



The impulse given to public education under the presidency of 
Sarmiento assured the Argentine Republic a position of leadership 
in educational matters among the South American Republics. Al- 
though much has been accomplished since that time, both in the 



328 EDUCATION REPORT, 1909. 

extension of the system and in the improvement of methods, it can not 
be said that the Argentine Republic has maintained that position of 
undisputed leadership in South American educational matters which 
it once occupied. The most serious obstacles to progress have been: 

First. The poverty of the Provinces, upon which the responsibility 
for primary education was placed under the constitution of 1853, 
and — 

Second. The lack of stability in the educational policy of the 
Federal Government in the development of the system of secondary 
instruction. The technical direction of this branch of the educa- 
tional system has suffered severely from the uncertainties of political 
changes. Continuity of policy has been quite impossible. Each 
incoming minister of public instruction has attempted to leave his 
impress upon the system of secondary instruction by incorporating 
his personal views into the curriculum. Both the method and the 
content of instruction have suffered from this lack of stability and 
expert direction. It is only within the past two years that the neces- 
sity of divorcing the technical direction of the system from the con- 
flicts of party politics has become apparent. The present minister 
of public instruction has recognized the importance of such stability 
by giving wider powers to the inspector of secondary instruction, 
who should be made in fact as well as in law the technical head of 
the system. 

The Argentine educational system is divided into four distinct 
parts : 

First. The elementary schools, for which the provincial govern- 
ments are primarily responsible, but for the maintenance of which the 
Federal Government has been compelled to make large expenditures. 

Second. The secondary schools, known as " liceos " and "colegios," 
and in which should also be included the normal schools, which are 
established, maintained, and controlled by the federal authorities, 
although the provincial governments maj^ and in some cases have 
established institutions of the same grade. 

Third. Commercial, industrial, and other special schools, which 
are, as a rule, established and supported by the National Government, 
but which may also be established by the provincial authorities. 

Fourth. The three national universities, Cordoba, Buenos Aires, 
and La Plata, established and supported by the National Government. 

PRIMARY INSTRUCTION. 

The Argentine Constitution places upon the Provinces the obliga- 
tion of maintaining a system of primary instruction. This obligation 
has been but partially fulfilled, owing in part to the lack of resources 
of the Provinces and in part to the absence of an organized public 



EDUCATION IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



329 



opinion demanding the expenditure of a certain minimum of the 
public revenues on education. The failure of the Provinces to meet 
their obligations has made it necessary for the Federal Govern- 
ment to give the broadest possible interpretation to its constitutional 
powers; otherwise a large percentage of the people of the country 
would be deprived of all educational facilities. 

In cooperating with the Provinces for the development of the 
primary-school system the Federal Government has acquired consid- 
erable control over this branch of the educational system. Wherever 
such schools are maintained by national funds, the federal authorities 
reserve control both over the curriculum and the personnel. 

The Central Government, furthermore, maintains complete control 
over primary education in the federal capital, Buenos Aires, and in 
the national Territories. This control is exercised by a salaried 
national council of education (Consejo Xacional de Educacion) 
appointed by the President of the Republic. During the fiscal year 
1907 this council expended $4,212,419 for the establishment and main- 
tenance of primary schools in the federal capital, in the national 
Territories, and for the primary schools in the Provinces supported 
by federal funds. 6 

With the gradual awakening of national opinion to the dangers 
incident to an inadequate system of primary instruction there is 
evident an increasing tendency to look to the Federal Government for 
the solution of this problem. The startling figures published by the 
superior council of education have given great impetus to the move- 
ment to nationalize the system of primary instruction. The present 
minister of public instruction has made this an integral part of his 
reform platform, and is convinced that there are no constitutional 
obstacles to the enforcement of the plan. His position has been 
greatly strengthened by the recent publication of data which give 
a graphic picture of the backward condition of primary education 
in the Argentine Republic. These figures, which are submitted in an 
accompanying table, will be supplemented by a school census now in 
progress, the detailed results of which will probably be available 
toward the close of this year or early in 1910. 

a During the first nine months of 1908 the federal subsidies for primary instruction in 
the Provinces amounted to $548,359.57. The total for the year will amount to over 
$1,000,000. 

b The number of primary schools in the Provinces maintained by the Federal Government 
is as follows (1907) : 



Province. 


Schools. 


Province. 


Schools. 


Province. 


Schools. 


Santa Fe 


28 
34 
43 
39 
39 


La Rioja 


32 
35 
34 
30 

38 


Catamarca 


38 


Corrientes 


Entre Rios 


Salta 


40 


San Luis 


Cordoba 


Jujuv 


27 


San Juan 




Total 




Santiago del Estero . . . 


i Tucuman 


457 













330 



EDUCATION REPORT, 1909. 



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332 



EDUCATION REPORT, 1909. 



The course of primary instruction includes six grades, each requir- 
ing one year. This portion of the educational system, especially ia 
the city of Buenos Aires, is well organized. Modern pedagogical 
methods have been introduced, and a concerted effort is being made 
to supply these schools with the best of material. The great need at 
present is the extension of primary school facilities to a larger per- 
centage of the population. For this purpose the provincial govern- 
ments will be compelled sooner or later to secure larger revenues 
through taxation. At present real estate bears an altogether inade- 
quate share of the burden of taxation. A considerable increase in the 
rate for the support and extension of primary education is the most 
important problem facing the Provinces. Unfortunately, there exists 
powerful opposition to this step, but it is to be hoped that the constant 
agitation of local educational associations will gradually arouse the 
taxpayers to the necessity of greater sacrifice for the public welfare. 

THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 

Secondary education in the Argentine Republic is controlled and 
maintained by the Central Government. The institutions for this 
grade of education are known as " colegios," ° distributed as f ollows : 

Table II. — Distribution and budget of the colegios nacionales. 



No. 



Colegio national. 



Where situated. 



Budget, 
1908. 



1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

25 

26 



Central 

North 

South 

West 

Northwest , x . 

La Plata 

Dolores 

Bahia Blanca 

Mercedes 

San Nicolas 

Rosario 

Santa Fe 

Parana 

Uruguay 

Corrientes 

Cordoba 

Santiago 

Tucuman 

Salta 

Jujuy 

Catamarca 

La Rioja 

San Juan 

Mendoza 

San Luis 

National school for young ladies. 



Federal capital 

do 

do 

do 

do 

Province of Buenos Aires 

do 

do 

do 

do 

Province of Santa Fe 

do 

Province of Entre Rios 

do 

Province of Corrientes 

Province of Cordoba 

Province of Santiago del Estero. 

Province of Tucuman 

Province of Salta 

Province of Jujuy 

Province of Catamarca 

Province of La Rioja 

Province of San Juan 

Province of Mendoza 

Province of San Luis 

Federal capital 



$154,954 
93,757 
122,025 
99,983 
77,658 
66,400 
22,550 
22,081 
36, 105 
22, 136 
46,053 
38,984 
38,268 
39.035 
40.222 
59,933 
40,024 
48,065 
35,630 
33,084 
40, 977 
34.959 
39,913 
53,436 
28, 647 
51,927 



The course of instruction covers a period of five years and the cur- 
riculum is arranged with special reference to the needs of those 
intending to follow professional careers. In fact, it may be said that 
only those intending to follow such callings attend the " colegios." 



a The institutions for women are designated " liceos. 



EDUCATION IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 333 

The student usually enters these institutions at the age of 12 and 
is prepared for one of the university professional schools at 17. 

The instability of the curriculum of these institutions has been one 
of the most serious obstacles to their development. Every minister 
of public instruction, without exception, has undertaken to make some 
fundamental changes. The teaching corps has not been given op- 
portunity to become thoroughly acquainted with any one course of 
study. This has reacted most unfavorably on the method of teaching 
as well as on the preparation of the teachers for their work. While 
it is important that the course of study be constantly adjusted to 
new needs, it is far more important that the teachers be thoroughly 
acquainted both with the plan of study and with the content of the 
subject entrusted to their care. 

This lack of stability has also increased the difficulties of edu- 
cational control. Complaints against incompetent teachers are met 
with the excuse that the constant changes in the curriculum have 
made it impossible to develop a well-organized pedagogical plan. 

The Federal Government is making every effort to place these 
schools on a high plane of efficiency. Splendid buildings are being 
erected in the larger provincial towns and the most modern equip- 
ment is being provided. The greatest obstacle to the full develop- 
ment of these institutions has been the difficulty of securing carefully 
trained teachers. The organization and method of recruiting the 
members of the faculty have contributed largely to this end. The 
subjects of instruction are divided into " catedras," or " chairs," each 
t: chair " including a minimum of three hours of instruction per week. 
For each ; * catedra " the incumbent receives about $130 per month. 
Instead of training men especially for these positions, the unfortunate 
plan has been adopted, especially in the smaller towns, of dividing 
the " catedras " amongst the resident and practicing lawyers and 
physicians. It is not infrequent to find a physician teaching litera- 
ture or a lawyer giving a course in physics. The most serious defect 
of this plan is that these teaching positions are regarded as merely 
incidental to the incumbent's main professional work, a means of 
adding to his personal income without considerable effort. The result 
is that these schools lack a permanent professional teaching staff in 
close personal touch with the pupils. 

Another danger to which every minister of public instruction is 
subjected is the tremendous pressure for appointments to teaching 
positions in these schools. Inasmuch as there is no special pedagogical 
preparation requisite for such appointments, political leaders are 
besieged with applications, and soon find themselves unable to with- 
stand the pressure. 

The work in the " colegios " would also be much improved through 
greater elasticity, combined with greater simplicity of the curriculum. 



334 EDUCATION REPOKT, 1909. 

The number of subjects taught is too large and the school hours too 
long. The division of subjects is as follows: 

Table III. — Curriculum of the colegios nacionales in the Argentine Republic. 

Subject. FIRST YEAR. per week 

I. Spanish 4 

French 4 

Argentine history 4 

II. Arithmetic 5 

Argentine geography 3 

III. Drawing 

Manual labor 

Gymnastics 



26 

SECOND YEAR. 

I. Spanish 4 

French 3 

Argentine history 3 

II. Arithmetic and bookkeeping 5 

Plain geometry 3 

Argentine geography 2 

III. Drawing 

Manual labor 

Gymnastics 



6 



26 

THIRD YEAR. 

I. Spanish (composition and literature) 3 

French 3 

English 4 

American history 2 

II. Algebra 3 

Geometry 3 

Natural science (zoology, anatomy, physiology) 4 

American geography 2 

III. Drawing 1 fi 

Gymnastics J 

30 

FOURTH YEAR. 

I. Literature 3 

English 3 

Italian 2 

History (ancient, Greek, Roman, middle age) 4 

II. Algebra 3 

Physics 3 

Inorganic chemistry 3 

Natural science (physiology, hygiene) 3 

Psychology 2 

Geography of Asia and Africa 2 



EDUCATION IX THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 335 

Hours 
per week, 
III. Drawing 1 

Gymnastics 



l 



34 

FIFTH YEAR. 

I. Literature 3 

English 3 

Italian 2 

History (modern and contemporary) 4 

Philosophy 3 

Civic instruction 3 

II. Natural science (botany, mineralogy) 4 

Physics 3 

Organic chemistry 3 

Geography (Europe and Australasia) 2 

III. Physical education 6 

36 

The examination of this curriculum discloses a tendency to place 
in the secondary schools advanced subjects such as psychology 
and philosophy, which should be reserved for the universities. Fur- 
thermore, all pupils are required to take three languages — French, 
English, and Italian. The result is that they acquire a smattering 
of each and a thorough acquaintance with none. A far better plan 
would be to allow each pupil the selection of one, or at most two, lan- 
guages and concentrate effort on these. Under the most favorable 
circumstances it is extremely difficult to teach languages in the large 
classes of a public school. When, therefore, the attempt is made to 
teach three languages in a curriculum which contains from eight to 
twelve subjects, the result of such overcrowding can readily be 
foreseen. 

This evil can be remedied through the introduction of the elective 
system, permitting each pupil, at the beginning of the third year, 
to select the subjects in which he is most interested, and which will 
best prepare him for the professional studies upon which he enters 
immediately after leaving the " colegio." 

The description of secondary education would be incomplete with- 
out some reference to the large number of Catholic ,k colegios " under 
the direction of the religious orders — Jesuits, Eedemptionists, etc. It 
is to these schools that the sons of the leading families are sent. The 
State exercises some control, but this control is quite inadequate. The 
important position occupied by private schools is evident from the 
fact that in the city of Buenos Aires there are at the present time 450 
private as compared with 190 public schools. 

The secondary schools for women are known as " liceos." Of these 
there are but two at present in the Argentine Republic, one in Buenos 
Aires and the other in La Plata. Their curriculum is even more over- 



336 



EDUCATION REPORT, 1909. 



burdened, for to all the studies of the " colegios " music and domestic 
science have been added. 

The fact that there are but two such schools in the Republic indi- 
cates that the State has but begun to face the problem of secondary 
education for women. Heretofore the convents and other Catholic 
schools have enjoyed practically exclusive control over this important 
branch of the educational system. It is true that girls are admitted 
to the " colegios " on an equal footing with boys, but the prejudice 
against coeducation is still so great that but few girls attend these 
institutions. 

NORMAL SCHOOLS. 

Upon this branch of the Argentine system American methods have 
exerted a real influence. The country owes the first normal school 
organized in accordance with modern pedagogical standards to the 
efforts of a group of American teachers brought to the Argentine 
Republic by President Sarmiento for the normal school in the city of 
Parana, the capital of the Province of Entre Rios. The influence of 
this school has been felt throughout the educational system of the 
country, and has contributed in no small measure toward placing the 
normal schools of the Argentine Republic upon their present plane 
of efficiency. 

There are at present 35 normal schools in the Argentine Republic, 
distributed as follows: 



Table IV. — Distribution of normal schools in the Argentine Republic. 



No. of 
school. 



For which sex or whom designed. 



Where situated. 



1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

18 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

25 

26 

27 

28 

20 

80 

31 

32 

33 

34 

36 



Men - 

Women 

Teachers of modern languages 

Women 

Women (San Jose de Flores) 

Women, La Plata 

Coeducational, Dolores 

Coeducational, Azul 

Coeducational, Bahia Blanca 

Coeducational, Mercedes 

Coeducational, San Nicolas 

Coeducational, Chivilcoy 

Coeducational, Pergamino 

Women, Rosario 

Women, Santa Fe 

Coeducational , Esperanza 

Coeducational, Parana 

Women, Uruguay 

Women, Corrientes 

District normal school for men, Corrientes. 

Women, Cordoba 

Coeducational, Rio Cuarto 

Women, Santiago 

Women, Tucuman 

Coeducational, Monteros 

Women, Salta 

Women, Jujuy 

Women, Catamarca 

District normal school for men, Catamarca 

Women, La Rioja 

Women, San Juan 

Women, Mendoza 

Women, San Luis 

District normal school for men, San Luis. . 
Coeducational, Villa Mercedes 



Federal capital. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 
Province of Buenos Aires. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 
Province of Santa Fe. 

Do. 

Do. 
Province of Entre Rios. 

Do. 
Province of Corrientes. 

Do. 
Province of Cordoba. 

Do. 
Province of Santiago del Estero. 
Province of Tucuman. 

Do. 
Province of Salta. 
Province of Jujuy. 
Province of Catamarca. 

Do. 
Province of La Rioja. 
Province of San Juan. 
Province of Mendoza. 
Province of San Luis. 

Do. 

Do. 



EDUCATION IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 337 

The regular course is four years, with two additional years for 
those who wish to obtain a certificate qualifying for teaching positions 
in the normal schools. The course of study is as follows : 

Table V. — Course of study in Argentine normal schools. 

FIRST YEAB. Hour8 

Subject. per week. 

Arithmetic 3 

History (ancient, Greek, and Roman) 3 

Geography (Asia and Africa) 2 

Spanish 4 

French 3 

Natural science (zoology and botany) 3 

Physics and chemistry 3 

Pedagogy 2, practice 3 5 

Physical training (manual. labor, drawing, music, housekeeping and domes- 
tic economy, agriculture, and gymnastics) 10 

36 

SECOND YEAB. 

Arithmetic and algebra 3 

History (middle age and modern) 2 

Geography (Europe and Australasia) 2 

Spanish 3 

French 3 

Natural science (mineralogy and geology) 2 

Physics and chemistry 5 

Pedagogy 2, practice 4 6 

Physical training 10 

36 

THIRD YEAB. 

Algebra and geometry 3 

History (contemporary and Argentine) 3 

Geography (Argentine and American) 2 

Spanish 3 

French 3 

Natural science (anatomy and physiology of man) 2 

Pedagogy 2, practice 6, criticism 2 10 

Physical training, etc 6 

32 

FOURTH YEAR. 

Cosmography 2 

History (Argentine and American) 2 

Literature 2 

Moral and civic instruction 3 

Natural science (physiology, hygiene, both domestic and of the school) 2 

9228— ed 1909— vol 1 22 



338 EDUCATION REPORT, 1909. 

Hours 
per week. 

Pedagogy and psychology 4, criticism 2, practice 9 15 

Physical training, etc i 4 



30 



Supplementary Course for Teachers in Normal Schools. 

first year. 

Pedagogy (science of education, practice, and criticism) 8 

Algebra and geometry 3 

History of civilization 3 

Fundamental psychology 4 

Physiology (applied to psychology) 3 

Literature : 3 

English , 6 

30 

SECOND YEAR. 

Pedagogy (including practice and criticism) 10 

Hygiene 3 

General physical geography _. 2 

Cosmography and topography : 3 

Psychology of the child 3 

Literature 3 

English 6 

30 

This curriculum is open to the same criticism of overcrowding as 
the course of study in the " colegios nacionales." This is a defect, 
however, which can be readily remedied. On the other hand, there 
is noticeable within recent years a healthful tendency to give a more 
important place to the study of Argentine history, and to the eco- 
nomic, social, and political development of the country. This change 
is certain to exert an excellent influence upon the method and content 
of instruction in the primary schools. 

SCHOOLS OF COMMERCE. 

Commercial education is still in its infancy in the Argentine Re- 
public as in all other sections of South America. Buenos Aires has 
three such schools (two for men and one for women), Bahia Blanca 
one, Rosario one, and Concordia one. 

The courses offered are in the main elementary, similar in many 
respects to the curriculum of our so-called " business colleges." The 
course for men covers four years, that for women three years. An 
effort is now being made to give to women the same training as to 



EDUCATION IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 339 

men. but this plan has encountered considerable opposition owing to 
the fear of possible competition. 

Higher commercial education as a distinct branch of university 
training, which now occupies so important a position in the United 
States, has not as yet found acceptance either in the Argentine Re- 
public or in any other South American country. Nevertheless, the 
schools of commerce, as at present organized, are doing excellent 
service both in their day and night courses. There is, however^ great 
need of a clearer appreciation, on the part of the educational authori- 
ties, of the importance of these institutions and the necessity of devot- 
ing a larger portion of the educational budget to their development. 
It would, in fact, be desirable to introduce into the " colegios " a 
special commercial course, giving to pupils the choice between this 
course and that leading to law, medicine, or engineering. In this 
way commercial education would be placed upon a distinctly higher 
plane, attract a better class of students, and tend to relieve the pres- 
sure in the overcrowded professions. 

INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION. 

Although a start has been made in this direction, it may still be said 
that the Argentine authorities have but begun to appreciate the in- 
timate relation between this type of education and national progress. 
The educational ideals which dominate the Argentine system are 
still largely humanistic. Spanish traditions and Spanish training 
have for many years obscured the essential dignity of manual labor. 

At present there are but two public industrial schools for boys, one 
in Buenos Aires and the other in Rosario. There are, in addition, a 
considerable niimber of private industrial schools, notably the school 
founded in Buenos Aires by the Association for Industrial Education. 

Of the two public industrial schools above mentioned, the national 
institution in Buenos Aires, for which a new building has been 
constructed recently, deserves special mention. Both as regards 
equipment and method of instruction it is admirably organized and 
is rendering splendid service to the country. Pupils enter this school 
after having completed four years of primary instruction. The 
course extends over six years, two years preparatory work, two years 
of general instruction, and two years of specialized instruction lead- 
ing to the following trades: (1) Master mechanic, (2) builder, and 
(3) industrial chemist. 

The success of the two schools established by the National Govern- 
ment indicates the direction in which effort should now be concen- 
trated. The country requires the multiplication of such schools to a 
far greater degree than the " colegios." If the educational system of 



340 EDUCATION REPORT, 1909. 

the country is to be symmetrically developed, national industria 
schools must be established in every provincial capital. 

The industrial schools for girls are known as " escuelas pro 
fesionales," and are rather in the nature of trade schools. Ther 
are four such schools supported by the National Government, thre 
in Buenos Aires, and one in Cordoba. 

SPECIAL SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 

In addition to the secondary schools above enumerated there ar 
a number of special schools which deserve mention, such as th 
National Institute for Secondary Teachers, the National Academy o 
Fine Arts, the Normal Institute for Physical Culture, all in the cit; 
of Buenos Aires, and the National Institute of Chemistry, situated i: 
San Juan, the capital of the Province of the same name. 

THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITIES. 

Of the three national universities, the oldest is the University o 
Cordoba, founded nearly three centuries ago. In fact, it is the secon< 
oldest university on the American Continent, having been founded i] 
1609, fifty-eight years after the University of San Marcos, of Lima 
Peru. 

The other two universities, Buenos Aires and La Plata, are com 
paratively recent foundations, the latter having been established bu 
four years ago. 

These institutions are maintained exclusively by federal appropria 
tions. There are no tuition fees and the matriculation and graduatio] 
fees are very low. For the year 1908 the appropriations for th 
maintenance of these institutions were as follows: University o 
Cordoba, $276,825 ; University of Buenos Aires, $449,350 ; Universit; 
of La Plata, $430,000. 

University organization in the Argentine Republic resembles mor 
closely the French than the American system. The faculties are t< 
a very considerable extent independent of one another. It is tru< 
that each university has its president, but with the exception of th< 
University of La Plata this office does not carry with it anything 
approaching the powers of a university president of the Unitec 
States. 

The absence of coordination and cooperation amongst the severa 
faculties has been one of the fundamental weaknesses in the develop 
ment of university influence in the Argentine Republic. It was witl 
a view to remedying this defect that a different system was adoptee 
in the organization of the National University of La Plata, estab 
lished but four years ago. American university organization was usee 
as a model after which the new institution was patterned. Instead o: 



EDUCATION IN CHILE. 341 

making the president a mere figurehead he was vested with supervi- 
sory powers over all the faculties. The result has been a unity of 
university effort which neither of the older institutions has been able 
to attain. 

In each of the three universities there is a faculty of law, a faculty 
of philosophy and letters, a faculty of natural sciences, and a faculty 
of physical and mathematical sciences. Cordoba and Buenos Aires 
have also a medical faculty. 

The material equipment of all the professional schools, especially 
the medical school of the University of Buenos Aires, is excellent. 
Instruction in all the faculties, however, suffers severely from the 
lack of contact between student and professor. Most of the members 
of the instructing corps — and this is particularly true of the law 
faculties — interpret their duties narrowly, confining themselves to 
formal lectures, with examinations at stated periods. Thus the edu- 
cational value of close contact between student and professor, upon 
which so much stress is laid in the United States, is entirely lost. 
Too much stress is laid on the final examination tests, whereas the 
work of the student during the college year is almost totally neglected. 

In this respect, also, the policy of the National University of La 
Plata, under the wise guidance of its present president and vice- 
president, marks a distinct step in advance. Students are required 
to keep their work at a certain standard of efficiency, professors are 
encouraged, in fact required, to enter into close touch with their 
students. The result is that there is gradually developing an esprit 
de corps which is having a most salutary influence on the growth 
of this institution. 

The National Government has been most liberal with its three 
universities, especially within recent years. Plans have been matured 
for magnificent new buildings for the faculty of physical and mathe- 
matical science (which includes engineering) of the University of 
Buenos Aires ; a great new hospital costing $6,000,000 is to be erected 
as an adjunct to the medical school. Cordoba is to have a series of 
new buildings to commemorate her tercentenary. 



CHILE. 



Educational progress in Chile presents a striking contrast with the 
Argentine Republic. In the Argentine Republic the democratic 
development of the country since 1850 led to the early development of 
primary education. Secondary and university instruction received 
but little attention. It is true that the Argentine educational system 
remained in a primitive state until the presidency of Sarmiento. 
Nevertheless, even up to his time more attention was given to primary 



342 EDUCATION REPORT, 1909. 

than to secondary schools. The aristocratic social organization of 
Chile, on the other hand, led to the concentration of effort on the 
development of the secondary schools. As a result, Chile posseses 
the best " liceos " and " institutos " in South America. Unfortu- 
nately, the system of primary education was neglected for many 
years and resulted in a degree of illiteracy amongst the masses which 
made impassable the chasm between social classes. The country is 
now suffering from the results of this long-continued neglect. With 
the industrial progress of the country the economic condition of the 
laboring classes has been steadily improving, but owing to their 
ignorant condition and total lack of preparation, the higher wages 
have in many cases resulted in degeneration rather than progress. 
The primitive wants of the agricultural laborers were satisfied by 
the lower wage, and the surplus has been used, to a very considerable 
extent, in an increased indulgence in spirituous liquors. Saving is 
almost unknown to the Chilean laborer, so that the increased wages 
have not led to a more careful provision for the future of the family. 

On the other hand the increased wages, in bettering the situation 
of the laborer, has also given rise to a spirit of discontent, a desire 
for a larger share in production. The ignorance of the laborer 
makes him an easy prey to demagogic agitation. It is not surprising, 
therefore, to find the violent outbreaks of discontented laborers which 
have occurred from time to time within late years, and of which 
the most recent instance was the strike of the nitrate workers in 
Iquique, which led to the mowing down of 500 men and women with 
the machine guns of the troops. 

The problem of overwhelming importance now confronting Chile 
is the improvement and extension of the system of primary education. 
It is only through the education of the masses and the consequent 
bridging over of the tremendous chasm that now separates the 
wealthy and educated from the uneducated and poorer classes that 
Chile will be able to retard the growth of discontent. 

Her leading statesmen are fully alive to the dangers of the present 
situation, and it is most gratifying to find the concentration of effort 
in the last few years on the development of the system of primary 
education. Rapid progress is now being made, although the decline 
in national income, due to the economic crisis through which the 
country has been passing, has given a temporary setback to the 
movement. 

PRIMARY EDUCATION. 

The Chilean educational system in all its branches is national in 
scope and organization, that is to say, is maintained by the national 
treasury. No local taxes are levied for educational purposes and the 



EDUCATION IN CHILE. 343 

local authorities have no voice in the administration of or control 
over the system. 

Although this lack of local cooperation in the development of the 
educational system has been unfortunate in many respects, it was 
inevitable in the absence of a well-defined public opinion upon which 
a local system might depend. 

In marked contrast with the Argentine system, the organization of 
primary education in Chile is highly centralized. Teachers are ap- 
pointed and paid by the Central Government and central supervision 
is maintained over eveiy detail of educational organization. While 
subject to the final authority of the President of the Republic and 
the minister of public instruction, the direct control over the system 
of primary instruction is exercised by an inspector-general. 

It is a curious fact worthy of note, for it throws an interesting side 
light on Chilean social conditions, that the secondary schools, or 
" liceos," have .gradually invaded the field of the primary school 
through the establishment of preparatory courses. These institutions 
depend upon a totally different educational authority — the council of 
public instruction and the president of the University of Chile. 

The preparatory courses of the " liceos " are attended by the sons 
of the well-to-do families, whereas the regular primary courses are 
attended by the poorer element of the population. Thus, in fact, 
two systems of primary education exist side by side, dependent upon 
different educational authorities and attracting totally different 
classes of the population. For this reason the primary schools have 
not contributed as much as might be expected toward breaking down 
the class barriers so marked in Chilean society. 

During the past fifteen years the leading statesmen of Chile have 
realized that this neglect of primary instruction is a real menace to 
the stability and orderly development of the country. The social 
organization of Chile is still fundamentally aristocratic. Until 
comparatively recent times the bulk of the population, especially the 
agricultural laborers, were in a condition of peonage. The industrial 
advance of the country, together with the rising wage scale, has pro- 
duced in the laboring classes a consciousness of power. The illiteracy 
of the great mass of the laboring classes greatly increases the dangers 
of the situation. The extension of primary instruction has therefore 
become one of the conditions prerequisite to orderly national advance. 
The country must now prepare itself to make every sacrifice for this 
l^urpose. 



344 



EDUCATION REPORT, 1909. 



During the past sixteen years the primary -school facilities have 
increased as follows: 

Table VI. — Growth of primary schools in Chile. 



Year. 



1891 
1892 
1893 
1894 
1895 
1896 
1897 
1898 
1899 
1900 
1901 
1902 
1903 
1904 
1905 
1906 
1907 



Number 

of 
schools. 



1,182 
1,156 
1,222 
1,224 
1,248 
1,269 
1,321 
1,368 
1,403 
1,547 
1,700 
1,821 
1,861 
1,942 
2,156 
2,233 
2,319 



Teachers, 



2,042 
2,070 
2,145 
2,169 
2,268 
2,308 
2,299 
2,692 
3,080 
3,426 
3,608 
3,999 
4,531 
4,639 
3,997 



Registra- 
tion. 



97, 452 
100,554 
102,711 
117,489 
114,565 
111,361 
109,058 

99, 889 
106, 348 
115,281 
124, 265 
145, 052 
167,028 
159,297 
170,827 
178, 402 
197, 174 



Average 
attend- 
ance. 



64, 737 

71,179 

72, 899 

72,925 

71,901 

81,168 

65,507 

65,619 

70,607 

72,761 

79,666 

97,692 

108, 562 

107,905 

106,041 

105,501 

121,176 



Relation 
of attend- 
ance to 
registra- 
tion. 



Per cent. 
67.8 
70.7 
70.9 
62.1 
62.7 
72.9 
60.0 
65.7 
66.4 
63.1 
64.1 
67.3 
65.0 
67.7 
62.3 
59.1 
61.4 



From this table it will be seen that the attendance in 1907 shows an 
increase of 15,675 over 1906. 

The curriculum of the primary schools in Chile is considerably less 
overburdened than in the Argentine Republic. The system has, 
furthermore, been considerably improved by the introduction of 
manual training in 1899. This was begun on a small scale in 10 
schools, and has gradually been extended until in 1907 there were 
120 workshops installed in as many public schools. In all the girls' 
schools sewing has been made an integral part of the curriculum. A 
new plan which is about to be put into operation is to permit pupils 
to devote the last of the six years of primary instruction to special 
training in the mechanic arts. 

NORMAL SCHOOLS. 

In the Chilean system the normal schools and the primary schools 
are dependent upon the same educational authority — the inspector- 
general of education. There are at present 15 normal schools — 6 for 
men and 9 for women. 

Owing to the low salaries paid to primary-school teachers, the 
normal schools are neither as numerous nor as largely attended as the 
educational needs of the country require. In 1907, it is true, salaries 
were considerably increased, but considering the high cost of living 
in Chile, the salaries are still far too low. Calculating the " peso " at 



•Owing to the Dnancial crisis the increase was paid to but a portion of the teachers. 



EDUCATION IN CHILE. 



345 



the present rate of exchange of 25 cents, the remuneration is as 
follows : 



Salary 
Teachers : per year. 

First class $450 

Second class 300 

Third class 270 

Fourth class 240 



. , Salary 

Assistants : per year. 

First class $300 

Second class 254 

Third class 225 

Fourth class 180 



After ten years of service the teacher is entitled to an increase of 
20 per cent. 

In the 9 normal schools for women the matriculation in 1907 was 
1,255, with an average attendance of 1,029; in the 6 normal schools 
for men the matriculation was 722, with an average attendance 
of 580. 

SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 

The secondary schools, or " liceos " as they are called, are under the 
control of a national council of education appointed by the Presi- 
dent of the Kepublic, of which the president of the national university 
is a member ex officio. 

There are in all 39 such establishments for boys and 30 for girls, 
each with its respective preparatory course. 

The matriculation and attendance are as follows : 





Registration. 


Attendance. 




Prepar- 
atory. 


Regular. 


Total. 


Prepar- 
atory. 


Regular. 


Total. 


Liceos for bovs 


3,991 
2,628 


5,311 
2,182 


9,302 
4,810 


3,341 
2,060 


4,555 
1,779 


7,896 


Liceos for girls 


3,839 







The development of secondary schools for girls has been extraor- 
dinarily rapid considering the fact that no attention was paid to this 
branch of the system until 1877. 

Although technically classed as a part of the national university, 
the pedagogical institute may best be considered in connection with 
the system of secondary instruction, for it is in this institute that 
teachers for the " liceos " are trained. Founded twenty years ago, 
this institute was at first intended exclusively for male pupils, but 
was later on made coeducational. During this time 310 secondary 
school teachers have been graduated. The number of students has 
increased rapidly. In 1907 there were 205 students registered. 



a The Internado Barros Arana for boys (Santiago) and Liceos Nos. 4 and 5 for girls 
(Santiago) have no preparatory courses. 



346 EDUCATION REPORT, 1909. 

The curriculum of the Institute- Pedagogico is planned to prepare 
specialists. It is therefore divided into seven distinct sections: (1) 
Spanish, (2) French, (3) English, (4) German, (5) history and 
geography, (6) mathematics and physics, (7) biolog}^, chemistry, and 
mineralogy. 

All students are required to take pedagogy, experimental psychol- 
ogy, logic, ethics, the history of philosoplry, civics, and educational 
organization and legislation. The full course covers a period of four 
years. 

The plan of study in this institution, as well as the method of in- 
struction, are distinctively German. In fact, the entire faculty, with 
the exception of the director, has been recruited from the German sec- 
ondary schools. This is probably the best instance of that quiet and 
unpretentious extension of German intellectual influence which is 
far more significant than her commercial advance. The German 
Government has been deeply interested in meeting every request of 
the Chilean people for competent teachers. At comparatively mod- 
erate salaries Chile has secured from Germany a group of teachers 
who now dominate the system of secondary education, and their in- 
fluence is also being felt throughout the system of primary instruction. 

This readiness of Germany to be of service contains a lesson of much 
importance to the United States. There has been no lack of requests 
on the part of the Latin- American governments for American teach- 
ers, but there has been considerable difficulty in meeting these re- 
quests, owing in part to the question of language, but mainly to the 
lack of adaptability of the average American teacher. Germany is 
performing a great service to the countries of Latin America — the 
kind of service that establishes her influence far more effectively 
than any attempt at extension of dominion. 

SPECIAL AND TECHNICAL SCHOOLS. 

Commercial education is still in its infancy in Chile. As a result 
of long-continued agitation on the part of a group of public-spirited 
citizens, an excellent commercial school was established in Santiago 
in 1898. Its success has been such that an appropriation was secured 
from the national government for a new building. Similar schools, 
but on a more modest scale, have been established in Valparaiso, 
Vallenar, Iquique, Coquimbo, Talca, Concepcion, Antofagasta, and 
San Carlos. 

The total registration at these schools in 1906 was 1,453, with an 
average attendance of 1,080. The total outlay for the year was nearly 
$100,000. 



EDUCATION IN CHILE. 347 

The entrance requirements to these schools are the same as for the 
f liceos," and the regular course covers a period of three years. In 
addition, there are special courses of two years for clerks and ac- 
countants. Although the first steps toward the development of a 
system of commercial education have been taken, the idea of higher 
commercial education has as yet made but little headway. 

The present commercial courses are, in the main, of an elementary 
character. The students enter at the age of 12 and usually leave at 
L4 or 15. The further development of the system is a matter of as 
much importance to Chile as to the Argentine Republic. On all 
■ddes one hears complaints of the unwillingness of the sons of the 
setter families to enter upon business careers. Higher commercial 
education will tend to counteract the tendency toward the overcrowd- 
ing of the professions. 

INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION. 

In the school of mechanic arts, situated at Santiago, an important 
step has been taken toward the establishment of a comprehensive 
>Tstem of industrial education. To this great school pupils from all 
sarts of the country are sent. The courses are eminently practical 
md the training thorough. The great service performed by this 
school indicates the necessity of establishing similar institutions in 
dl the larger towns of the republic. In fact, it may be said of Chile, 
is of all the other countries of South America, that the educational 
problem of overshadowing importance at the present time is the 
extension of industrial education and technical instruction. This 
lecessity is due in part to the fact that the present scholastic system 
lirects far too large a proportion of the young men into the study 
)f law and medicine. 

A beginning has been made in Santiago toward the establishment 
)f industrial training for girls. As yet the industrial opportunities 
for women are exceedingly limited. The Santiago school has, there- 
fore, confined its attention to the training of young women for dress- 
makers, hatmakers, and the minor commercial positions. The in- 
lustrial emancipation of women is, however, a most important factor 
n the social progress of the country, and it is through schools such 
ls these that this emancipation will be effected. 

PRIVATE SCHOOLS. 

The description of the school S3 7 stem of Chile would be incomplete 
vithout some reference to the large number of private schools of both 
primary and secondary grade. Many of these are subsidized by the 
jrovernment, others are maintained by the Catholic Church or by 



348 



EDUCATION REPORT, 1909. 



private associations. The number of private primary schools is indi- 
cated in the following table: 





Number 
of schools. 


Number 
of teachers. 


Pupils ma- 
triculated. 


Private primary schools : 

Subsidized by the Government 


196 
176 


634 
326 


26,564 
11,601 


Not subsidized 




Total 


372 


960 


38, 163 





Primary school census, 1906. 

Public schools. 103, 685 

Private schools 38, 16? 

Military schools (army and navy) 4, 212 



Total 146,062 

During the same year (1906) the Government granted subsidies 
to 44 private secondary schools. 



UNIVERSITY INSTRUCTION. 

University instruction has been more fully developed than any 
other portion of the educational system. The council of public in- 
struction, under whose immediate charge the university is placed, 
has wielded great influence, and has always been able to secure rela- 
tively large appropriations for university instruction. The admin- 
istrative head of the university is the president, or "rector," as he 
is called, who is at the same time ex officio member of the council 
of public instruction. 

At the present time the university offers courses in law and polit- 
ical science, medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, engineering, architecture, 
and fine arts. The pedagogical institute also forms an integral part 
of the university organization. The teaching corps, number of 
students, and budget are indicated in the following table: 

Table VII. — Instructors, students, and budget of the different faculties of the 

University of Chile. 



Faculty. 



Law and social sciences (including special course in city of Concepcion) 

Medicine and pharmacy, and nurses' training school 

Dentistry 

Engineering 

Architecture 

Pedagogy 

Fine arts 



Instruct- 
ing corps. 



Total. 



44 

32 
5 
19 
15 
12 
11 

138 



Students. 



491 
294 

89 
149 

43 
221 
135 

1,422 



Budget. 






121,000 
55,360 

8,800 
29,646 
12, 075 
26,983 

7,530 

161,394 



EDUCATION IN CHILE. 349 

University instruction in Chile suffers from the serious defect of 
an overemphasis — in fact, almost complete dependence — upon exami- 
nations as a means of controlling the work of the students. There is 
little or no contact between student and professor, and as a rule the 
student interprets his universit}^ life as a series of lectures, followed 
by examinations. The result is a lack of distinctive student life, 
which is the most serious obstacle to the development of the broadest 
university influence. 

Dr. Valentin Letelier, who was until recently rector, made a strenu- 
ous effort to remedy this defect. He impressed on the students the 
essential unity of university life and the necessity of closer coopera- 
tion amongst the students of the different departments. Probably 
the most important step taken has been the establishment of a student 
center, or club house, adjoining the university building. Doctor 
Letelier is keenly alive to the necessity of developing a distinctive 
university life which will include the entire student body. He has 
done a service to higher education in Chile the value of which will 
only be fully realized by future generations. 

One of the most important changes which the present situation 
calls for is the recognition of membership in a university faculty as a 
distinctive career, commanding and demanding all the time and 
attention of the incumbent. At present a university professorship in 
Chile is looked upon in much the same way as in the Argentine 
Republic — a mere incidental activity to current professional activities. 
The result is a lack of esprit de corps, which has been a serious obstacle 
to the advance of higher education in Chile. 

The description of higher education would be incomplete without 
some reference to the Catholic University situated in Santiago, which 
offers courses in law, civil and mining engineering, architecture, fine 
arts, and agriculture. The law school has 185 students ; the engineer- 
ing school, 396 ; the agricultural school, 12 ; and the school of fine arts, 
55. In all of these departments the equipment is excellent, and the 
teaching corps has been selected with great care. 

The Catholic University occupies an unique position. Its main 
supporters are the members of the conservative party. Inasmuch 
as the wealthier elements of Chilean society are to a very large ex- 
tent affiliated with this party, the donations and bequests reach a large 
total each year. In fact, this is one of the few instances in Latin 
America in which a great national institution is supported exclusively 
by private contributions. The rivalry existing between the national 
and the Catholic universities has proved of real benefit to both, pro- 
tecting them against the stagnation and fossilization which is the 
inevitable consequence of monopoly. 



APPENDIXES. 

[The two following papers, which have been prepared in this bureau, are appended 
here for the purpose of supplementing and illustrating with further details Doctor Howe's 
account of educational progress in the Argentine Republic and Chile.] 



APPENDIX I. 

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF EDUCATION IN THE ARGENTINE 

REPUBLIC. 

By Prof. Carlos O. Bunge, of the University of Buenos Aires. 

Contexts. — I. Education during the colonial epoch. II. Education of the Indians. III. 
The University of Cordova. IV. Education in Buenos Aires and the coast during the 
nineteenth century. V. University studies in the second half of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. VI. Character of modern instruction in the Argentine Republic. 

I. 

Education during the colonial epoch. — The conquest and colonization of 
Spanish America were effected at a time when the divine right of kings was 
an unquestioned fundamental dogma of the political creed of European nations. 
The principal object of all the laws relating to the Spanish colonies and their 
institutions was to maintain the new lands and peoples under the temporal 
and, to a certain extent, under the ecclesiastical dominion of the Catholic King. 

Theoretically, the supreme object of the conquest and of the maintenance of 
sovereignty over the subjugated Indians was their conversion to Christianity 
and the salvation of their souls. It was attempted, first of all, to create a new 
Catholic population under the double authority of the Spanish Crown and the 
pontificate. 

What with its incessant wars of religion, in the expulsion of the Arabs and 
Jews, and in the extirpation of heresy, the mother country found itself at the 
time of the conquest, in the sixteenth century, in a precarious situation, 
both economical and industrial. Its necessities kept on increasing, while its 
resources diminished. Under such circumstances the eagerness with which the 
Royal Government, and private individuals as well, sought the riches of the 
New World can be readily understood. The monopolistic system which was then 
established, which now seems to us so unjust, was imposed upon the Govern- 
ment by the fatality of history. America being regarded as an immense trad- 
ing station, the army, the civil officers of the Government, and the commercial 
houses all concerned themselves but little with the intellectual culture of the 
new colonies. It might even be said that the ignorance of the natives and of 
the Creoles was regarded as a favorable circumstance for keeping the colonies 
submissive under the severe political and economical regimen to which they 
were subjected. Yet, aside from its lofty ideal of evangelizing the Indians, it 
was also for the interest of the Crown to educate the Creoles, if not from the 
ampler and more generous point of view of providing them with superior cul- 
ture, at any rate from the selfish motive of educating them in political and 
religious obedience, so as to keep them more easily under the yoke. 



« Translated (with some omissions) from El Monitor de la EducaeiOn Comtin, October 
31, 1008. 

350 



EDUCATION IN ARGENTINA AND CHILE. 351 

The prevailing ideas of the epoch and especially the unequivocal support of 
the church sanctioned these political views of the Spanish monarchy, and in 
consequence colonial education assumed a pronounced religious character. 
The papacy and the King in Europe, and the regular and secular clergy in 
America, supported by the Spanish officials, were the factors of all education 
during the Spanish domination. 

The priests and missionaries who accompanied the conquerors, inflamed with 
apostolic zeal, devoted themselves ardently to the conversion of the natives, 
and after the conquest was assured and Spanish settlements were established 
they opened their cloisters for the education of the Creoles. Still later they 
took measures to form a local clergy in the colonies which should be graduated 
from universities like those in the Catholic countries of Europe. The Crown 
favored this initiative of the church, which was undertaken especially by the 
missionary orders, by the Jesuits above all, but also by Franciscans and 
Dominicans. A series of statutes and decrees was promulgated by the council 
of the Indies in which the system of education founded by the clergy was 
approved and fostered, and regulations were formulated for its government. 
The King, in virtue of his right of patronship, constituted himself the supreme 
head of religious instruction, although he respected the autonomy of the 
establishments and institutions conducted by the clergy. The apostolic appro- 
bation of the Pope was always sought in founding universities. 

The Laws of the Indies contain the royal decrees relating to what would 
now be called public instruction. 

There was no methodical plan, but some form of instruction was instituted 
in each locality according to its condition and resources. The classical forms 
of the teaching bodies of the middle ages, which required that the instruction 
should be strictly dogmatic in its character, were recognized in these decrees. 
In such distant lands and among such a wild and turbulent mixed population 
as they contained a severe discipline in habits of obedience to the Crown 
and church was indispensable. The Government therefore, always fearful of 
insubordination, reenforced by its authority the educational system based upon 
dogmatism and obedience which the Jesuits had already established in Spain 
and in nearly all the Catholic world. 

The Government's first case was to see that the sons of caciques who would 
have to govern the Indians should be taught the holy Catholic faith. Colleges 
were established for this purpose in the different colonies, in which the children 
were placed under the care of priests, who taught them good manners and the 
Spanish language, and who later opened schools for all Indian children for 
instruction in the gospel, where they learned reading and writing besides the 
catechism. Among the ecclesiastical institutions which took charge of the 
education of the Indians the best organized and most important were those 
called " reducciones," which were institutions conducted by the Jesuits where 
converted Indians were formed into docile colonies of agricultural laborers, 
whose daily routine was minutely prescribed for them by their religious masters. 
These institutions, which were established in the early colonial period, reached 
a high degree of development in the seventeenth century, but when the priests 
were expelled by King Carlos III at the close of the eighteenth century, the 
Indians, being deprived of their teachings, soon relapsed into their natural 
condition of savagery, thus showing themselves incapable of profiting, unsus- 
tained, by the Catholic culture they had been accustomed to receive. Primary 
instruction — reading, writing, and religion — was provided for in the mission 
schools and certain small colleges. What would now be called secondary and 
superior instruction was given in the universities. The colonial universities 



352 EDUCATION REPORT, 1909. 

may be divided into two classes — the official institutions, which were founded 
by the Crown, like those of Lima and Mexico, and the private institutions, 
which were established by the regular or secular clergy, were then authorized 
by the Pope, and were recognized by the Crown through concessions which were 
prolonged indefinitely. The University of Cordova belongs to this last category. 
It was the highest and most typical exponent of the colonial culture of Para- 
guay, Tucuman, Buenos Aires, and the Banda Oriental of Uruguay, which 
together constituted in the later period of Spanish rule the large and rich vice- 
royalty of Rio de la Plata. 

The universities, like the lower schools, grew up under the shadow of the 
church. They were, to a certain extent, autonomous and of a pronounced eccle- 
siastical character, while the Crown regulated their minutest affairs by royal 
decrees. The viceroys could not intervene in the selection of rectors or pro- 
fessors or in the granting of decrees. The former, elected by the body of gradu- 
ates, held office for one year, but were eligible for reelection. The professors 
were of two categories, those who held their positions during good behavior and 
those whose terms lasted four years. The instruction was of a pronounced 
theological character. The principal object of the universities was to graduate 
a Creole clergy who should keep the principle of the divine right of kings alive 
and strong in the colonies. 

II. 

Education of the Indians. — As was remarked above, theoretically the lofty 
aim of the Spanish conquest of America was the conversion of the Indians. 
But this ideal did not attain the desired result. The Indians did not mix 
freely with the Europeans and always remained, at bottom, essentially anti- 
Christian. The task of the evangelizers encountered an insuperable obstacle 
in human nature itself. For notwithstanding that Christianity proclaims the 
equality of mankind, modern biological theories are far from regarding this 
equality as absolute or even evident. History records the fatal disappearance 
or submergence of inferior races before their conquerors, their remnants ap- 
pearing as castes or slaves. Force was always the predominating element in 
conquest, while persuasion played a secondary part. The contrast between the 
barbarism of most of the American Indians, outside of Mexico and Pern, and 
the civilization of the Spaniards was too great, added to the radical difference 
of race, to' be easily obliterated, so that the conquered people were forced to 
remain in an inferior condition. The natives, for the most part, accepted their 
condition of vassalage as inevitable, and the position of the missionaries who, 
like Las Casas, sincerely believed in and preached the Christian doctrine of 
universal brotherhood, was thus rendered doubly difficult by coming in conflict 
with the interests of the conquerors on the one hand and the obvious inferior- 
ity of race and the acquiescence of the conquered on the other. Under these 
circumstances the missionaries could, at best, only assuage the severity of the 
servitude of the conquered races and lighten their yoke. This they accord- 
ingly effected through the Jesuit system of seini religious colonies referred to 
above, and the general Christianizing of the indigenous population by the other 
Catholic clergy. As proof that the Indians were not the equals of Europeans, 
reference is made to their want of initiative, activity, and intelligence, and to 
the fact that after the expulsion of the Jesuits the mission Indians found them- 
selves more helpless than ever. Instead of augmenting their natural forces 
the Jesuit system had debilitated them. The same Christianity which added 
strength to the conquerors had only enervated the unfortunate conquered 
people. In a word, experience has demonstrated that the pure Indian was not 
Christianizable. Nevertheless, evangelization produced certain good results in 



EDUCATION IN ARGENTINA AND CHILE. 353 

the mixed bloods, descendants of the Spaniards and Indians, giving them a 
sense of cohesion and social harmony which facilitated the introduction in later 
times of the democratic idea. Without knowing it, those persevering and 
unpretending missionaries of the early days, who preached the gospel to sav- 
ages in virgin forests, were contributing their mite to the future growth of 
democracy and lay civilization among the free peoples of Spanish America. 

III. 

The University of Cordova. — In the early part of the seventeenth century the 
Jesuits, who were established in the city of Cordova, founded there a college of 
their order called the " Colegio Maximo." In 1613 the Bishop of Tucuman 
granted the society funds for the purpose of widening the scope of the institu- 
tion and giving higher instruction in Latin, the arts, and theology to the students 
of the Colegio Maximo itself, as well as to students who might come from 
Paraguay and elsewhere. The Colegio Maximo was opened under the new 
regime in 1614, and after it had acquired reputation it was raised by pontifical 
and royal decrees to the dignity of a university, until in 1622, by order of 
Philip III, it was authorized to grant the degrees of bachelor, licentiate, master, 
and doctor. The university was divided into two faculties, one of arts or 
philosophy and the other of theology. The faculty of arts comprised logic, 
physics, and the metaphysics of Aristotle, the courses occupying three years, 
after which there were two years of practice for the students, during which they 
were obliged to give lectures. The course in the theological faculty was four 
years, which was also followed by two years of practice or probation. The 
method of study was the mnemonic or the purely scholastic. In the three 
courses of the faculty of arts the instruction was cyclical; that is to say, one 
of the courses of study was completed and then dropped, and then another 
was taken, to be completed and dropped in its turn. The great defect of this 
system was, however, corrected by the two years of review or repetition, when 
the students were required to lecture. The philosophy studied at the university 
was the peripatetic or Aristotelian. Theology was taught from the Summa 
Theologise of St. Thomas Aquinas and the Liber Sententiarum of Peter Lombard. 
To this was added the vast work of Suarez, comprising the exposition of all 
the doctrines of the Society of Jesus. The studies of the faculty of arts were 
preparatory to those of the faculty of theology, yet it furnished the degrees 
of bachelor, , licentiate, and master of arts. The degree of bachelor was con- 
ferred after completing the three courses of study mentioned above and passing 
a public examination in logic. For a degree of licentiate in arts, which fol- 
lowed in order, a year of lecturing was required, followed by a public defense 
of theses in the three studies, and for the third degree, that of master in arts, 
two years of probationary lecturing, followed by an examination covering the 
whole field of philosophy, were required. There were also three grades of 
degrees in theology corresponding to those in arts, viz, that of bachelor, 
licentiate, and doctor. The granting of these degrees was preceded by severe 
examinations held in public, and all the ceremonies were conducted with much 
solemnity. They were occasions of pompous processions, in which the civic 
authorities took a conspicuous part with the ecclesiastics and the officials of 
the university, in escorting the candidates to the church and back to their 
dwellings after the bestowal of the degrees. Even the description of the official 
costumes prescribed for the students and for the candidates and successful 
graduates, besides the clergy, on these occasions is given in detail. 

The faculty of civil law was added to the university course in the eighteenth 
century after many difficulties, and authority to grant degrees in law was con- 
9228— eo 1909— vol 1 23 



354 EDUCATION REPORT, 1909. 

ferred upon the university in 1796, in consequence of which the law faculty 
gradually supplanted its elder theological brother in importance and influence. 
There were two Jesuit " colegios," or secondary schools, connected with the 
university, and after the expulsion of the Jesuits by Carlos III in 1767 both 
the university and its colleges were given over to the secular clergy, and sub- 
sequently to the Franciscan order, in whose charge it remained until it was 
secularized by decree of the King in 1800. This order was not, however, carried 
into effect until 1808, when the university began its new career under lay 
auspices and with a new system of instruction which lasted during the first 
half of the nineteenth century. This course of instruction comprised four 
faculties, viz, grammar, philosophy, theology, and law. The philosophical 
faculty included four subdivisions, viz, (1) logic and metaphysics; (2) moral 
philosophy; (3) arithmetic, geometry, trigonometry, including surveying, and 
algebra (equations of the first degree) ; (4) physics, in which study it is to be 
noted that the experimental method was to be preferred to the systematic. The 
studies of theology and law followed the course in philosophy. The university 
maintained its aristocratic character until its "nationalization" (that is, until 
the national government assumed charge of it) in 1854. Up to that time purity 
of blood was a prerequisite to admission, and persons of mixed negro and white 
blood in particular were denied admission. Upon the declaration of independ- 
ence in 1818 the National Government, with its seat at Buenos Aires, declared 
itself the successor of the Spanish Crown in respect to authority over the 
university, and except an interval from the disturbances of 1820, when the 
control was assumed by the provincial government,. until 1854, when the National 
Government resumed authority, the university has remained under the National 
Government ever since. The curriculum as rearranged was quite modern in its 
character and consisted of a preparatory course, so called, comprising Spanish, 
Latin, French, religion, geography, and practical arithmetic, which was followed 
by the courses of the regular faculties, philosophy (logic, ethics, mathematics, 
physics, and astronomy, one year each), theology (four years), and law (four 
years). The "cyclical" character of the course in philosophy, as the author 
of the article here translated calls it, is criticised by him as being a vicious 
system by which a student is led to follow a given study (logic, or ethics, or 
physics, etc.) for a year and then forget it. 

IV. 

Education in Buenos Aires and the coast, the viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata, 
during the nineteenth century. — Both the Spanish population and the Spanish 
culture arrived at the territory which was afterwards known as the viceroyalty 
of Rio de la Plata in two distinct currents, one coming from Peru on the 
Pacific side of the continent, while the other reached the Atlantic coast directly 
from Europe. Only the first of these two currents was of importance as far 
as influence upon education is concerned during the seventeenth and eighteenth 
centuries. Crossing the northern part of the territory it ramified from Cor- 
dova, which city became its center, to Corrientes, Paraguay, and the boundary of 
Brazil. Its typical and important institutions were the University of Cordova 
and the missions of Paraguay. 

The other stream of colonists, which came directly from Spain to the coast 
country (the "litoral"), was less important from the point of view of educa- 
tion. They were, for the most part, rough " hidalgos " and military men who 
had no idea of establishing schools. The few and scattered centers of instruc- 
tion which were established among them were due to the northern immi- 
grants with whom came the religious congregations and the secular clergy as 



EDUCATION IN ABGENTINA AND CHILE. 355 

well. Later, at the end of the eighteenth century, during the reign of Carlos 
III, colonization from the Atlantic side increased in strength, but owing to the 
liberal political and religious ideas of that period, the new colonists were less 
under the religious influences than those who had arrived from the north. 
Nevertheless, the Viceroy Vertiz, who represented in Rio de la Plata the 
progressive politics of Carlos III, endeavored to establish a university in Buenos 
Aires, but although his project received the royal assent in 1778, it was not 
realized until much later. Meanwhile a college was established under the 
name of San Carlos in a building belonging to the Jesuits, in which instruction 
was given in grammar, rhetoric, philosophy, theology, and canon law after the 
old scholastic method, which was not in accordance with the new spirit of the 
times, and accordingly, after languishing some years, the college was suppressed 
definitely after the revolution of 1818. Vertiz also founded a medical school 
in 1780, while at the same time the nautical school and the school of geometry, 
in which architecture, perspective, and drawing were also taught, were estab- 
lished, both of which, however, came to a premature end in 1802. About this 
time, also, that is to say, previous to the nineteenth century, it is worthy of 
special historical interest to record, the revolutionary leader Belgrano ° desired 
to establish free primary schools besides special schools of agriculture, mathe- 
matics, and drawing, but his ideas were not then realized. The university of 
Buenos Aires owes its origin to the union of several struggling or moribund 
institutions, including those just mentioned and two or three similar colleges, 
which was effected in 1821. The university included in the scope of its activities 
the entire official instruction of the Province of Buenos Aires from the elementary 
schools to those of theology and jurisprudence. After the elementary schools 
came the department of secondary or preparatory studies, which included Latin, 
French, logic, metaphysics and rhetoric, physics and mathematics, and political 
economy. In the department of mathematics were included drawing and de- 
scriptive geometry with applications. The medical department included the 
three chairs of medicine, surgery, and clinics, both medical and surgical. The 
department of law had two chairs, one of natural law and the law of nations, 
and the other of civil law. The department of theology was left without 
specific provision until 1825, when the chairs of Greek and Latin, of evangelical 
morals and of ecclesiastical history and discipline, were founded. From the 
foregoing the practical and positive spirit in which the university was founded 
will be seen. The preparatory studies and the medical and law departments 
continued to flourish and exert a beneficial influence upon Argentine culture, 
while theology and mathematics did not acquire an equal importance or in- 
fluence. The university languished, however, under the rule of Rozas, who even 
permitted the return of the Jesuits and commanded the rector of the university 
to admit them to their ancient seat, until his power fell in 1852, after which 
the university was reorganized upon a wider scale in accordance with modern 
ideas. The plan of the secondary studies was enlarged, the course in medicine 
was extended to six years, and in 1863 a faculty of exact sciences was added, 
besides which enlargement of the university itself the government of the 
province established certain national colleges of secondary instruction under 
the direction of the university. Since 1882 the functions of the university have 
been conducted under the four faculties of humanities and philosophy, of 
medicine, of law and social science, and of mathematics and the physico-natural 
sciences. Each faculty has its own teaching body and government and there 
is besides a superior council, under the presidency of the rector, composed of 

a Belgrano, an Italian by origin, and a man of wealth, had received his education at th« 
nniversity of Salamanca. 



356 EDUCATION REPORT, 1909. 

delegates from the several faculties. Since 1885, the date of the passage by 
the national congress of the university law which regulates both the university 
of Cordova and Buenos Aires, both institutions have ceased to give secondary 
instruction and have devoted themselves exclusively to superior studies, re- 
sembling in that respect the new university of La Plata, founded in 1906. 

V. 

Education in Argentina in the second half of the nineteenth century. — Since 
1852 the National Government of Argentina has been actively engaged in reorgan- 
izing education throughout the country. Primary schools were established in 
various places, but the main efforts of the Government were directed toward 
improving secondary education, which was effected by establishing a number 
of national colegios, one in each provincial capital, each successive minister of 
public instruction — and there were frequent changes in the ministry between 
1852 and 1884, when the present course of studies was established — having a 
plan of his own. Since the latter date secondary instruction is confined to one 
national colegio, in which the character of the instruction is modern and ency- 
clopedic, while its ethical character is civic and democratic and the instructors 
are laymen. The same practical character is now given to primary instruction. 
Sarmiento, in his capacity as statesman and writer, turned to North America 
to find models for his country to follow, and in this he was followed by other 
patriots, conspicuous among them being Juan Maria Gutierrez, in consequence 
of whose efforts the Argentine schools now have a marked democratic and prac- 
tical stamp. The seed which those statesmen planted fell upon a rich and 
responsive soil and is now bearing abundant fruit. 

VI. 

Character Of modem Argentine education. — Modern Argentine education is 
the result of a violent reaction against the strong religious and monarchical 
spirit which dominated the old regime, in education as well as in politics, and 
from its inception it manifested the individualistic and democratic tendencies 
of the philosophy of the eighteenth century. Two orders of ideas influenced the 
molding of the new nationality, the modern European humanistic teachings, 
and North American constitutionalism. The new European humanistic doc- 
trines revealed themselves, although feebly, in the reforms of Carlos III, but 
acquired strength and body in the minds of the revolutionists. In spite of the 
prohibition by the Spanish Government of the introduction of books which 
would disseminate the new philosophy, the new ideas crossed the seas like the 
winds themselves, so that although the patriots could not find opportunities to 
read the original works of Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Voltaire, or the ency- 
clopedists, the doctrines of these writers became known to them, inspired their 
thoughts, and determined their actions. Moreno, Monteagudo, Belgrano — all 
the great leaders and thinkers of the Argentine revolution — were more or less 
romanticists and Jacobins. After the revolution the patriots found the more 
typical and perfect realization of their political ideas in the North American 
Republic. That democratic republic, therefore, became their exemplar and a 
model of organization for them to copy. The ideals of a republic, of liberty, 
and of the rule of the sovereign people represented their highest political aspi- 
rations. American independence coincided very fortunately for their purposes 
with the triumph of the French Revolution. 

With these elements and ideas the new nation was radically liberal and 
republican, and the population, although not really European by race, and not 



EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS IN CHILE. 357 

sufficiently educated to make a proper use of republican ideas and institutions, 
which are difficult for novices to comprehend at first, still promptly assimilated 
the fundamental ideas of the new political organization, for a faculty of assimi- 
lation and a passion for progress have always been characteristic of the Creole 
portion of the people. From the new culture could only result a democratic 
tendency and a profoundly practical spirit which affected education as well as 
politics. The scholastic spirit disappeared with the revolution, instruction 
ceased to be formal and abstract, and the classics were no longer cultivated with 
such zeal or so generally as in former years, but education followed the modern, 
practical tendency of the period, substituting the physico-natural sciences and 
modern languages for the old classical courses. The aim is no longer to pro- 
duce men of erudition, but enterprising citizens. 

Discipline has been and still is defective in Argentine institutions of educa- 
tion. There is much insubordination among the students, the explanation of 
which is to be found partly in the social spirit, and partly in the character of 
the Creoles and the prevailing Jacobin ideas. But it is a mistake to complain of 
a fault which merely demonstrates the existence of an independent and manly 
spirit. When that spirit is subject to proper discipline, it will produce one of 
the most intelligent and generous peoples on earth. 



APPEXDIX II. 

A BRIEF SURVEY OF EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS IN CHILE IN 1908. 

[Population, 3,399,928 in 1905.] 

The last report of this bureau contained a notice of the decided tendency to 
utilitarian or " modern " studies in higher education which Chile, in common 
with the other Spanish South American States, has developed in recent years. 
This tendency has arisen in response to a demand for studies of a practical 
and positive, or objective, nature in place of the old subjective introspective 
culture. The modern tendency is due to the rise of the industrial democracy 
during the latter half of the nineteenth century, and has been conspicuous in 
Europe as well as in the United States and South America. Further illustra- 
tion of this tendency in Chile is offered by the report of the minister of public 
instruction, presented to the National Congress in 1908, which gives a summary 
view of the condition of state education in Chile from the primary grades to 
the university. This order of arrangement — beginning with the lower grades 
and proceeding to the higher — which in itself is significant of a change of view 
in recent years, is followed in the present abstract. 

To render his review of state-supported instruction complete, the minister 
remarks, it is necessary to refer to those institutions which have received sub- 
ventions from the state as well as those which were founded by and are entirely 
supported by it. 

Private instruction is powerfully aided by the annual appropriations for the 
different secondary schools (liceos and colegios), which have been increasing 
year by year until the sum amounted to $S7,235 in 1007. The mean attendance 
at these schools for that year was 3,957, which makes the subvention $22.04 
for each student. In like manner the subvention for private primary schools 
rose in ten years from $49,490 in 1898 to $232,280 in 1907. These private 
schools had an average attendance of 13,898 children of both sexes during the 
latter year, making $16.71 for each pupil. Private schools are also assisted 



358 EDUCATION REPORT, 1909. 

by the State through the gratuitous distribution of text-books and paper. 
The minister adds that although it is well for the treasury to be open-handed 
in its assistance to private schools in a country where there is so much illit- 
eracy as there is in Chile, still two considerations must be kept in view — one, 
that this assistance should not be so prodigal as to impede the development 
of the public or state schools, which have a much broader plan of studies than 
the private institutions, and the second, that the Government should not grant 
this assistance without careful examination, because, while there are schools 
and societies worthy of all credit, there are others, unfortunately, which do 
not faithfully perform their duties to the heads of families. 

To insure the proper performance of their functions, the Government at the 
close of 1907 obtained a grant of $109,500 as a subsidy to be paid to the pupils 
(at the rate of $7.30 a year each) of such private schools as would comply 
with the conditions contained in an ordinance which the Government issued at 
the same time. Among these conditions were provisions that the hygienic sur- 
roundings of the schools must be good; that the teachers must have diplomas 
from the normal schools, or have bachelors' degrees in the humanities, or pass 
examinations; that reading, writing, elementary arithmetic, geography, and 
history of Chile be taught; that the schools should be in operation at least 
one hundred and fifty days in the year, and that they should be subject to 
inspection by the regular inspector of the public schools. 

A table showing the growth of the state primary schools from 1891 to 1907 
shows that in the latter year there were 2,319 such schools, with 3,997 teachers, 
an enrollment of 197,174, and a mean attendance of 121,176, or 61.4 per cent of 
the enrollment. The number of teachers in 1907 who were graduates from a 
normal school was 1,415, against 2,582 who were not " normalists," wherefore 
the Government determined to stimulate the zeal of those teachers who have 
not had a normal course by giving them facilities to study in a pedagogical 
seminary, and to that end issued an ordinance providing for the examination of 
such teachers at a normal school before an examining board for the purpose 
of granting diplomas as qualified teachers. The subjects prescribed for exami- 
nation include methodology and manual training, with the usual subjects of 
study of primary schools. 

Promotions in the public school service, as in all branches of the Govern- 
ment, should be based solely upon merit and not be due to favor. Only those 
normal teachers, therefore, should be appointed directors of superior schools 
who are proved to be worthy of the trust by their intelligence and high char- 
acter and their experience in teaching. 

Appointments to these places were, accordingly, made subject to competitive 
examination by a decree of May 25, 1908, which provides minutely for the 
conduct of such examinations before an examining board at some one of the 
state normal schools. 

In recent years manual training has developed to a considerable extent in 
the public schools of Chile, the first 10 carpenter shops having been established 
in 1899, while in 1907 there were 29 carpenter shops, with 908 pupils working 
in them; 40 shops for working in pasteboard, with 1,270 pupils; and 51 shops 
for needlework, with 5,100 girls at work in them. 

The Swiss method of instruction has been followed in these schools, with 
the view of cultivating the natural aptitude of the pupils, but a more practical 
end will be observed in future and the instruction will be correspondingly 
modified and the number of shops greatly increased. Especially is this prac- 
tical object to be kept in view in the superior schools, where the pupils will be 
taught mechanical trades, so that they can enter into business readily. 



EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS IN CHILE. 



359 



111 1908 there were 15 normal schools for the training of teachers in Chile, 
6 for men and 9 for women, and a new normal school for women was established 
that year in the Province of Malleco. 

The following table gives the statistics of normal schools for 1907 : 

NORMAL SCHOOLS IN CHILE. 



For men. 


For 




women. 


6 


9 


111 


182 


722 


1,255 


580 


1,029 


66 


54 



Total. 



Number of schools e 

Number of teachers 

Enrollment 

Average attendance^ 

Number of graduates 

PRACTICE SCHOOLS. 

Enrollment 

Average attendance 



15 

293 

1,977 

1,609 

120 



583 
479 



815 
631 



1,398 
1,110 



The Government is so sensible of the importance of the normal schools that 
a special decree was published under date of April 27, 1908, with reference 
to the appointment of teachers, in accordance wherewith " normalists " (i. e., 
graduates of a normal school) who have completed the course of the Peda- 
gogical Institute and those who have studied at the Institute of Physical and 
Manual Training are to be preferred as teachers in normal schools, and if 
such candidates are not available, then those who have diplomas as teachers 
in normal schools or university graduates will be accepted, thus precluding 
the possibility of filling the positions with unqualified persons. 

The plan of studies of these schools has also been modified, more reliance 
being placed upon the study of text-books and works of reference than here- 
tofore when the students were accustomed to make notes of the lectures of 
the professors. The list of works includes the names of several French and 
German authors (Compayre, Schuffe, Schutzer). 

Commercial education in Chile, so far as it has developed, is a growth of 
recent years. A list of nine commercial institutes in as many cities is given, 
with an average attendance of 934 students in 1907. By a decree of May 26, 
1908, the following industrial course of study was prescribed for the technical 
commercial institute of Iquique, which prepares its students to be employees 
of the Government and analysts and technical experts for the saltpeter indus- 
try: English, German (elective), wood and iron working, industrial chemistry, 
machines and motors, electricity, and drawing — the last four subjects being 
studied practically in the laboratory and shops. 

Secondary education. — The law of January 9, 1879, provides that there shall 
be at least one establishment of secondary instruction in each province; that 
is to say, that there should be one liceo for young men in each of the twenty- 
three provincial capitals. Many other liceos have since been created in different 
cities, until in 1907 there were 39 in the whole country, with an enrollment of 
9,302 and an average attendance of 7,896 ; there are, besides, 31 liceos for young 
women, supported by the State, with an enrollment of 4,810 and an average 
attendance of 3,839. The courses of study in these liceos are designated in the 
tables as " preparatory " and the " humanities," the latter being the usual 
secondary course, to which the new studies of civics, psychology, philosophy 
of the sciences, and general history of civilization were to be added. The 
average attendance on the course of the humanities was 4,555 young men and 
1,779 young women in 1908. 



360 EDUCATION REPORT, 1909. 

The preparatory course in the liceos for girls is of three years, and in some 
cases the first-year course appears to be designed for very young pupils. 

Superior instruction. — Higher education in Chile is placed by law under the 
direction of the council of public instruction, while the University of Chile in its 
various establishments is the actual seat of this branch of instruction. As 
stated by the minister in his report, the university has not only been the foun- 
tain of instruction and learning as such, but has been the source of the pro- 
gressive ideas in educational reform which have so rapidly modified the 
intellectual condition of the people in recent years. 

The council of public instruction was for forty years, under the name of the 
council of the university, the principal auxiliary of the Government in all 
educational matters, whether relating to primary, secondary, or superior instruc- 
tion. It was, however, deprived of its jurisdiction over primary instruction 
by the law of 1879, while its authority over the other two branches was made 
supreme, and during these thirty years it has accomplished a notable work. It 
is charged with the duty of conferring degrees and titles which qualify the 
students to practice professions or enter the public service, and has provided a 
series of examinations as a condition precedent to granting the degrees. This 
has been the powerful lever by means of which the council has fomented so 
efficaciously the intellectual development of the country. The degree of bachelor 
of the humanities is evidence that the student possesses all the ideas which are 
indispensable to a man of cultivation and a good citizen. The degree of licen- 
tiate in law or medicine or mathematics (engineering) is clear proof not only 
that its possessor is qualified to practice the corresponding profession, but it 
also implies that he knows, and knows well, other subjects of study which, 
although they may not be necessary in the practice of his profession, yet give 
him greater breadth of view and stability of principle. The council has in this 
way been of great service to the country directly and indirectly, and it has also 
contributed to the general education of the people through its own publications, 
such as the Anales de la Universidad, and by publishing other important works 
and granting premiums. 

The faculty of law is composed of the leading judges and advocates of the 
Chilean bar. In 1907 the number of law students was 476. The minister of 
foreign relations has proposed that a course should be established in the law 
school for the training of young men for the diplomatic and consular service. 

The medical faculty, like that of the law, is composed of the most distin- 
guished practitioners in Santiago, and the students numbered 232 in 1907. 
The school of pharmacy connected with the medical faculty had an enrollment 
of 54 in that year, the school of dentistry 80, and the school of matrons 37. 

The mathematical course of the university is on a par with those of law and 
medicine. Its teaching force is composed of Chilean engineers of high stand- 
ing, together with some foreigners. 

On September 19, 1907, the Government, upon the recommendation of the 
council of public instruction, created a special class for the study of the ex- 
ploitation of saltpeter and analogous salts, the great importance of the salt- 
peter industry to Chile making that step advisable. The professor will be 
required to make reports to the Government upon the manufacture of fertilizers 
in foreign countries. 

Another new chair in the mathematical course is that of seismology and 
seismic architecture, suggested particularly by the earthquake of 1906. The 
services of Prof. Montessus de Ballore were secured to fill this chair and to 
erect and superintend a seismological observatory. 

In 1907 there were 250 students in the mathematical faculty. 



EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS IN CHILE. 361 

There are an astronomical observatory, the museums of natural history of 
Santiago, Valparaiso, and Conception, and a botanical garden, connected more or 
less directly with the faculty of physical sciences and mathematics. 

Much space is given in the report of the minister of the pedagogical institute, 
which may be regarded as the teachers' section of the faculty of philosophy and 
humanities. This institute was created twenty years ago, and has ever since 
been acquiring the development and influence its founders hoped for. Its 
students were at first internes, but this system was soon abolished and now 
only exterues are admitted. It has graduated 310 teachers of both sexes, and 
the matriculation for 1907 showed 205 names. The principal recent improve- 
ment has been the installation of cabinets and laboratories of physics, chem- 
istry, and the biological sciences, while the plan of studies was considerably 
modified in the latter part of 1907. There are now seven courses, viz: (1) 
Spanish, (2) French. (3) English, (4) German, (5) history and geography, 
(6) mathematics and physics, (7) biological sciences, chemistry, and mineral- 
ogy. All students of the institute are required to study (1) theoretical and 
practical pedagogy, (2) experimental psychology, (3) logic, ethics, and the 
history of philosophical systems, and (4) civics and elements of school legisla- 
tion. A list of the studies prescribed for one of the courses, that in Spanish, 
will give an idea of those in the four others in languages, as they are prac- 
tically identical, excepting the language which gives the name of the course. 

Course in Spanish : Style and composition, Spanish linguistics, Latin, some 
foreign language (French, German, or English), theoretical pedagogy, psy- 
chology, logic and ethics, history of philosophical systems, civics. 

An idea of the scope of the instruction in the foregoing may be obtained 
from one subject, viz, Spanish literature. This is divided into three heads: (1) 
Latin, anteclassical and classical literature of Spain. (2) Contemporary 
literature. (3) History of Spanish-American literature, colonial and post- 
revolutionary. 

The other subjects are similarly treated, and examination topics correspond- 
ing to and fully covering each general subject are given. 

Under chemistry and mineralogy are included the theoretical and experi- 
mental study of general chemistry ; inorganic chemistry, with qualitative and 
quantitative mineral analysis, including volumetric analysis ; organic chemistry, 
theoretical and descriptive, preparation of organic compounds, including syn- 
thesis, elementary organic analysis and determination of formulas, application 
of analysis to foods, drinks, and industrial products; crystallography, geomet- 
rical and physical, with goniometry, general and descriptive mineralogy, the 
principal mineral species, determination of minerals and blow-pipe assay : 
petrography, the most important rocks and their origin, preparation of thin 
sections, and determination by means of the microscope. 

The foregoing shows a very comprehensive course in chemistry and miner- 
alogy, including petrography, sufficient, it would seem, to give a student ample 
knowledge not only to teach the subject intelligently, but also to enable him to 
pursue the study by himself. 

Systematic pedagogy includes, (A) theoretical part. Under this come, (1) 
the study of the pupil: (a) the fundamental laws of psychological life, 
psychology, and paidology ; (&) the ideal forms of psychical life, ethics, logic. 
(2) The study of the educator, which includes («) general methodology of 
education, especially secondary; (&) special didactics of the different subjects 
taught in secondary schools. (B) The practical part: (1) Psychological investi- 
gations in the laboratory; (2) attendance at the practice school, practice recita- 
tions and criticism. 



362 EDUCATION REPORT, 1909. 

The Spanish-American countries, following the Latin traditions, maintain 
schools of art and music as public institutions supported by the State. The 
studies of the schools of fine arts in Chile include painting, drawing, sculpture, 
engraving, and architecture, and the teachers are often European artists who 
have received prizes for their work in Paris or Spain. There were 243 pupils 
of both sexes at the two schools of fine and decorative art in 1907, and 144 male 
and 439 female students at the national conservatory of music. This institution 
is of great benefit to the middle class of the population, since the greater part 
of its graduates become teachers of the piano and singing, and are trained to 
become actors and actresses. 



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